It may be coincidental, because I was not thinking of the anniversary of Luella's passing, but a couple of days ago I received in the mail the Blu-Ray DVD of the 1985 film "Out Of Africa", and one of the reasons I bought it was because Luella had told me she wanted to she that film. Anybody recall if she ever did see it ? Luella was a winner, so she could pick out winners, as this film won 7 Oscars. (ha) I will be watching it soon as a tribute to her. Before I got on this site today, the memories of the times I would walk into her Cornerstone Bookstore and see her sitting there in her office reading and studying her Bible caused me to start weeping. How I wished I could go back to a better time and better place, and see her bright face !

I just today found out about Luella's passing. I was on YouTube and for some reason thought of the film "Out Of Africa" and looked at some scenes from it, but immediately after I thought of the film I remembered Luella saying one day that she would like to see it, so I searched and found this site. I lived for a few years back in the 1980s in San Diego, and I used to stop by and shop and talk with Luella numerous times at her bookstore in Hillcrest. I moved back East here years ago and lost touch, but my memories of Luella are good and I remember her well, full of joy and goodness. If any of her closest family read this drop me a line so I can ask you something. Our loss is Heaven's gain.

To my mother, Luella Alma DePriest (in Heaven):
I think of you all the time as I muse on my life's challenges and happiness. I miss you more now than ever. There is so much more I would thank you for. 
I am so grateful for how hard you worked to keep the house and allow us kids to live in a wonderful neighborhood. I wish I'd truly talked to you more when I was growing up. I'm sure I would have benefited from some more hugs and advice if I had. 
I'm sorry you had to work so hard to maintain a house for us. I had a lot of freedom and I did have a fun childhood. You allowed that for me.
Lately, you come to my mind and heart so often that I truly believe you are aiding me in some way there in the Great Beyond.
Thank you for your love, prayers, and being there.
Your daughter, Michelle

3 years. Your always thought of and remembered.

Love Always,
Roger Charles

Dear Mom;

Thank You!

Love,
Roger

So as a year has passed. The memory of one, Luella DePriest feels strong as ever. We reflect on the legacy of her life. Her strength. Her will. Her determination.

The day of her passing, was a day of many many feelings. Of all the things mom stood for, it was her ability to embrace each and everyone one of her children, grandchildren and their families and loved ones as her own.

Let's hope that in the future we are able to restore the legacy she stood for, to all of us left behind. 

I miss you mom. I miss your spinning around the screen down and singing. I miss your padres game reruns. I miss your driving. Your newspaper reading. Your birthday wishes. But most of all and beyond all else. I miss knowing you were there!!!! No matter what, and for whatever was needed. You were there. I miss that the most.



Your son.

RCD

I wish I could put into words how grateful I am that I spent those last years living with Mom in her house on Alameda Drive. I have so many moments to recall ANY time I wish.
   She always maintained her sharp sense of humor! Whenever she "pulled my leg", I would look deeply into her eyes and watch as the twinkle would spark and grow. Then her laughter would spillout. And I would know I'd been had, again!
   I found that although I never imagined loving her any more than I already did.......my love grew, as did my admiration of her. She became more and more beautiful.
   And when she started telling a few of us how the people on the TV were talking directly to her, I reassured her that I also knew that it was true. And we would laugh......(and maybe share a little ice cream).
   It was difficult to watch her go through the pain and confusion she suffered at the end. But that will never be how I remember her. I'd rather see her in my mind's eye, sitting in her chair in the living room watching the Padres, and coaching them ........sure they could hear every word!!!!

We had Grandma's memorial yesterday but as my cousin said, it felt more like a holiday than a gathering in grief. During the graveside service, we circled around her casket, held hands and shared stories about Grandma. It was beautiful to hear the impact one woman made on so many lives. After her service, we gathered at her home on Alameda and while there were tears shed here and there, what filled her home most yesterday, was the sound of laughter - fitting I think, since little pleased Grandma more than a good, hardy laugh.

This weekend, I'll see about posting photos from the service as well as the program.

Thank you who have posted for your wonderful reminders of how my mom lived her life to the fullest at each stage of her life. And I love the pictures Caron Shipley sent via email of that last reunion picnic mom went to in Minnesota in 2011. Wasn't that grand that we got her back to Minnesota then?

My mom was always there for us when we needed her. When we were young, she raised us without a father and kept our house for us right down to the end. That is remarkable for a woman in the 1960s to have to work full time and raise 5 children as well. When we got older, any problem we were having, health wise or otherwise, she was there for us. I always knew I could count on her to care and to help if she could.

She lived a strong life and would do anything for her family that was possible for her to do.  And she loved God and she loved to sing.

She told me she had wished she could have been an opera singer. A few weeks ago when I was at her home, I heard her operatic voice once more as she was singing and humming, and I knew she had found the peace that passes all understanding even through the discomfort of her declining physical abilities. It was such a blessing to hear her singing like that again.

One day I will try to write down everything that transpired in my life where I needed her advice and presence to help me through physical challenges or important decisions I needed to make. My mom will show up in that story with all the ways she loved and cared for me with words and actions of help, encouragement, wisdom--and her big laugh and hug. I will continue to have her in my life even now after she is in her eternal place of joy and love, because she is a part of me and I know what she would say.

She is filled with love and joy right now and surrounded by those she loves who went before her. And through our sadness of not having her around us on earth, she lives forever in spirit and in our hearts and minds and lives.

I love you mom forever!
Michelle

If Helen Ready thought she was the " I am woman", she never met Luella Alma DePriest!!

This was a true pioneer in what a strong woman looked like who still maintained that incredible love and compassion for all. 

Luella was seen in right field during baseball games for her three sons, honking her horn on her Impala to everything she found worth cheering for. She could be located at most every church service in town. She was embracing, to all who strode across the boundaries of her  beloved home at Alameda Dr.

To know Luella was to find the meaning of true love. Of true friendship. Of true parenthood. She would take in a stranded fly if it needed a place to stay. She asked no explanation of her family, when they needed her help. She simply gave all she had to ensure they were cared for.

Her love and devotion to God, were amazing. She owned her own business, she loved to garden. She loved visitors. And she was very proud of her family and made sure all knew.

At this very moment I can see her swinging open that screen door outside the laundry room to it's full extend, and then quickly doing a complete 360 while jumping for joy that she could beat that door from closing before she got inside................................Really!! At 95 years old she had the disposition of a teenager.

We love MOM because she showed us all what true love looked like. Because she gave us a glimpse of what faith was in real time.  Because she believed and she lived and she passed on her terms!

She left this place, ONLY after she was convinced that her five children and their families were together as one family unit. She could only find final rest once she in her own way, with each one at her bedside at their own time, had in some way expressed, that they would be ok with her exit.

She is with her eternal father and her family and friends,  And we all know that she's singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" as I write this note.

May your life be blessed by knowing her. And may your future be bright knowing that all good things are in front of us.

Respectfully,

Roger Charles DePriest

I have so many memories of Aunt Luella. The first being in Minneapolis, staying at our house in the 1950's---Mitch, do you remember sleeping on the living room floor of that small house on Girard Avenue in Minneapolis??? We had a ball. Next came several trips to San Diego and her trips north to Minnesota to see the farm, the old farmhouse where several of her siblings were born, and the wonderful family picnics at the park in Fair Haven, MN. Remember the Old Settlers' picnics? That generation is gone now, but never forgotten and always loved.

I remember being with Aunt Luella in 1976 when I visited San Diego. She and I drove around and saw Mt. Palomar, the orange groves, and---of course---the ocean She was not born there, but she was as much a part of San Diego as anyone She loved it then and still does.

This is a generation we will so miss. They were strong, resourceful, and had total faith in God. She gave so much love to all, I truly cherish her memory and consider myself blessed to have known her for 64 years.

God bless my cousins, Mitch, Michael, Caron, Jon and Roger and her grandchildren, so blessed to have her in their lives. I love you all. I wish I could be there for her memorial, but will not.

Your cousin,
Gloria Gillette

I'm never hard pressed to name the person who has left the boldest, most indelible mark on my life. She is a part of so many memories growing up. I spent countless weekends with her in the home she worked hard and tirelessly to keep to ensure her kids and later her grandkids could have the security of a "home base", a foundation. On so many of those weekend and summers too, I got to work in her Bible bookstore. She would have my brother and I choose something in the store (a bible, a game, a songbook, anything of our choosing) and then have us earn our prize by working in the store. I learned to wrap gifts in her bookstore, to be generous to strangers without expectations. Tucked away behind her counter, I practiced my drawing and imagined myself one day running the store for her.

When I think of my grandma, I think of trips to the flower nursery & planting colour bowls or african violets in her lush sunroom. I remember early morning breakfasts at the Huddle, her drinking coffee with dinner at Chicken Pie Shop after closing shop and two full-sized stoves in the kitchen because they were a good deal. We went to many a tent revival in which I had no idea what was really going on but I didn't care, I was just happy to be there because I was with my grandma.

When I think of my grandma, I remember how at times, when I'd least expected it, she'd do something just a little bit wild, like take off with screeching tires and a sly grin, after the light turned green. It was in those unexpected moments she made it known, clean living or not, a rebel heart still beat within.

I love you, Grandma!